I have been watching the leaves every morning for the past two weeks and how they just seem to glow as the sun comes up. I look at the beautiful blue skies and can’t believe it’s almost Christmas. There are days when I would love to have it cold and snowy and to just once have a white Christmas. Looking outside to see the beautiful, freshly fallen snow. To be able to have a fire in the fireplace without opening up windows so you don’t roast. I do know, though, that there are a lot of blessings with the sunshine. It makes it a lot easier to do Christmas shopping. I don’t have to shovel anything or scrape ice off of my windshield in order to drive. One of these days though I am determined to be in front of a roaring fire on Christmas Day while it snows and blows outside. Until then I will appreciate the beautiful colors outside my window right now.

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.
~ W.T. Ellis

Saturday was a very special day for me. For the past few months I have been working on something called Help Portrait. Help Portrait was started by photographer, Jeremy Cowart, to get photographers giving back to their community. I thought it would be a great opportunity for Faded & Blurred to get involved.

The idea is to find people that would normally not be able get family photos taken (because of finances, living situation, health, etc.), take their pictures, and give them prints of those pictures as a gift. This would take place on December 12th all over the world. Our group of about a dozen photographers ended up at a large Christmas party put on by the county sheriff’s department for battered women’s shelters in the area. It was quite an experience.

There were about 8 shelters that were bussed in. They had a huge Christmas tree, a big turkey dinner set up for them, a rock-climbing wall, crafts for the kids, clothes and presents… Their first stop (after passing through two lines of sheriffs holding out roses for them) was our makeshift “studio”. I think all of us were a bit overwhelmed at first, but we all got into the swing of things very quickly. Our number one job was just to make them feel comfortable. It was so great to just watch the expressions on their faces, especially the kids, as they started having fun with it.

I wish I could share some of the photos with you. The women and their kids just sparkled. Because of security issues we left our memory cards with the sheriffs so they will print out the photos for the families. I’ll leave you with a photo, tho, of our mangy group of photographers. We all cannot wait to do this again.

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year.
~ E.B. White, “The Distant Music of the Hounds,” The Second Tree from the Corner, 1954